FSCP®

Financial Services Certified Professional®

Better tools for building confidence. The Financial Services Certified Professional® (FSCP®) designation offers the most complete product knowledge, and marketing and planning skills training available to financial services professionals today. Gain the practical knowledge and skills you need to establish a successful, ethical practice. Learn using the active learning process of Learn, Discuss, Do, Reflect, and transform knowing into doing. Complete five of 11 available electives and two required courses to earn your FSCP® designation. This flexibility allows you to set your own path as you lay the foundation for career-long learning and growth.

Customize your education with

11

courses from which to choose

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

A foundation for success.

The FSCP® program covers all of the essential skills to successfully launch your career as a financial services professional or to grow your practice by marketing new products and services. You will learn crucial prospecting and marketing techniques, fundamentals of a wide range of products, how to meet client needs, and how to build a successful business. Taught by industry experts, and reflective of current trends and market realities like social media and regulatory constraints, the practical and relevant skills advisors learn can be applied right away.

Elective courses (choose five)FA 200 Techniques for Prospecting: Prospect or Perish: Teaches advisors industry-proven methods for successfully identifying, selecting and approaching prospects for financial products and services. The course covers procedures for creating prospect awareness, target marketing concepts, and prospect qualification and prioritization techniques. Students learn how to overcome the psychological barriers to prospecting and innovative approaches to setting income and activity goals. Strategic, tactical and operational business planning processes are presented in detail, along with effective contact management systems. In addition, practice management concepts, professionalism, and ethics are explored.

FA 201 Techniques for Exploring Personal Markets: Provides an in-depth look at penetrating the personal markets using the life-cycle marketing strategy and selling/planning process. Learn to segment your market into four adult life-cycle segments and recognize the common insurance and financial needs members of these market segments have. Apply this approach to new prospects and existing clients. Master basic marketing plan creation and learn to apply the life-cycle marketing strategy to your practice. Other topics covered include disability income, life, long-term care and Medicare supplement insurance; overview of investment products; special markets; and retirement and estate planning.

FA 202 Techniques for Meeting Clients Needs Learn the Products: Offers an introduction to the life insurance sales career and the sales/planning process in the personal market. Addresses total-needs selling, the consultative selling process, and the needs for personal life insurance. Presents the skills used throughout the selling/planning process, from the initial client meeting, through fact-finding and sales presentations, to servicing and continuing a mutually profitable relationship. Presents a review of insurance products, policy provisions, underwriting and service.

FA 204 Marketing Financial Services to Women: Explore the marketing opportunity and demand for insurance and financial products that exist among the largest single economic force in the world: American women. This course is designed to increase the financial professional’s readiness and effectiveness in marketing to, working with and serving female clients. It incorporates the latest research on women and money, best practices in marketing, relationship building, consultative selling, and the six content areas of financial planning (insurance and risk management, cash management, investments, income taxation, retirement and estate planning). Since trust is essential for success and is often absent in how women view financial professionals, the barriers and builders of trust are explored as foundational elements.

FA 211 Essentials of Disability Income Insurance: Examines individual disability income insurance and the related products of business buyout coverage and business overhead expense insurance. Presents the real reasons behind clients’ most commonly used insurance objections, and what these objections tell the skilled financial advisor. Reviews proven sales approaches and ways to overcome objections and close the sale. Also covers the use of fact finding and field underwriting in making the disability income insurance sale, how to customize the policy to meet the prospect’s objectives, and how to deliver the policy and service the plan.

FA 212 Social Media: Don’t Get Left Behind: It’s no secret that traditional ways of marketing have changed. For your business to become successful, you must adapt to the fundamental ways you interact and communicate with consumers. Social media is now an essential tool for how you do business — it helps you connect with new customers, strengthens relationships with existing ones, and even offers valuable analytics about your consumer base. However, you must not only learn how to use social media, you need to understand how to leverage it to efficiently market your business. If you want improve your business, and reap the benefits of social media marketing, this course offers the practical skill sets required to develop, and manage, a successful social media presence as a financial services professional. *Only offered as a live online webinar. Instructed by industry experts from Hearsay Social.

FA 222 Essentials of Multiline Insurance Products: This course provides multiline agents with a strategy for helping clients obtain the various insurance and other financial products they need to achieve their dreams and protect their income and assets. The course provides an overview for how to establish need, gather and analyze information, and develop recommendations for products in the various levels of the revised financial planning pyramid. Products discussed include: disability income insurance, life insurance, long-term care insurance, mutual funds and annuities. Retirement and estate planning are also covered.

FA 251 Essentials of Business Insurance: Covers how life and disability income insurance can guarantee the control and value of a business following the owner’s or key person’s death, disability, or retirement through buy-sell agreements and key person insurance. Explores the basics of estate planning for the business owner. Examines what to say, how to say it and when to say it to capture the attention of the business owner.

FA 257 Essentials of Life Insurance Products: Begins with an overview of the two basic types of life insurance policies — term and whole life — and then builds on that knowledge with an overview of the many product variations sold in today’s markets. The course also explores personal, family, and business uses of life insurance products, as well as policy illustrations, cost comparison methods, income and estate taxation, policy provisions, marketing ideas, and ethical issues facing the financial advisor. Provides a review of the selling/planning process for life insurance product solutions.

FA 261 Foundations of Retirement Planning: Guides professionals in examining the retirement planning process, fact finding, methods of analyzing facts, retirement planning software, and sales tracking. Discusses the role of Social Security, Medicare, and tax policies in retirement planning and the suitability of various accumulation vehicles, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance and annuities for retirement planning. Explains how retirement planning creates estate planning needs and addresses payout options, spousal benefits and investment strategies.

FA 271 Foundations of Estate Planning: Offers an introduction to estate planning and the role life insurance plays in the estate planning process. Discusses how different types of property are transferred during life and at death, and the tax implications of not having an estate plan. Also presents the steps required to settle an estate and discusses the importance of having a will, the gift and estate transfer tax system, state death and estate taxes, trusts and planning estates of business owners.

Required CoursesFA 290 Ethics for the Financial Services Professional: Provides a practical framework for making ethical business decisions in the financial services industry. This course examines legal, compliance and practice standards that apply to the financial services professional. It also investigates ethical approaches to placing financial products, determining suitability and assessing risk. Concludes with a final exam. The format is textbook self-study, with online exam (requires a proctor). (Students licensed in New York take paper exams.) Exam is required for state continuing education (CE) credit. *The DOL Professional Standards Course will also provide credit toward the FSCP® ethics requirement.

FP 99 Foundations of Financial Planning: An Overview: This course is designed to be an overview of the major planning components that make up a comprehensive financial plan. Although each of these components is covered in more depth in other courses at The College, this is the one FSCP® designation course where all of these components are brought together to show what truly needs to be covered in order to provide comprehensive financial planning.

Your tuition includes a live class facilitated by an experienced practitioner, all required study materials, access to convenient online learning tools, and your examination. Shipping and handling is included.

Live online classes are scheudled for two hours while live local classes are scheduled for two and a half hours. Both deliveries meet weekly and last eight weeks. Students are free to enroll in whichever class format suits their preferences best.

Attend moderator-led live local or live webinar classes. Students are free to choose the style that fits them best. Textbooks, workbooks, and additional study materials such as practice exams are included.

Earn Your FSCP® Your Way

Live Online Classes (Webinars)
Attend live, instructor-led classes from your home or office computer. These interactive webinars offer a convenient, timesaving way to participate in classes without needing to travel. All assignments are submitted online, and the final proctored exam is taken online through The College’s Online Learning Center, Blackboard. (Students licensed in New York take paper exams.)

Enjoy the personal satisfaction of teaching sales skills that help others succeed

☨Must have five students and only applies to the primary moderator.
*Must take the final exam to receive credits.

Moderator Compensation Program

Earn up to $2,000 moderating courses! Moderators teaching courses will be compensated as follows:

5-9 students: $800 per course (minimum of 5 students required to hold a course)

10-14 students: $1,000 per course

15-19 students: $1,500 per course

20-25 students: $2,000 per course

Choose from Convenient Class Options

Live Local Classes - Designed for moderators who like structure and personal interaction with their students and peers.

Live Online Classes - Lead live, real-time online classes from your home or office computer, all without having to travel.

Final Exams For all FA courses starting on or after January 1, 2014, exams must be taken through The College's proctored online examination process (NY students will take a proctored paper-and-pencil exam). Students must satisfy the attendance requirements and have a moderator grade of at least 70 to be eligible to take the final exam. Guidelines for taking the exam and instructions for registering an exam proctor can be found online in Blackboard. Student and proctor exam eligibility emails will be sent as soon as the student has met the exam eligibility requirements. (Students have 4 weeks from the last class to take their exam.)

Required Moderator Orientation Video

Before you can moderate a course, you must complete the application form, registration form and watch a 35-minute moderator orientation video.Please visit to watch the moderator orientation video. After you’ve watched the video, complete your moderator application by following the link below.

Final Exams For all FA courses must be taken through The College's proctored online examination process (NY students will take a proctored paper-and-pencil exam). Students must satisfy the attendance requirements and have a moderator grade of at least 70 to be eligible to take the final exam. Guidelines for taking the exam and instructions for registering an exam proctor can be found online in Blackboard. Students have four weeks from the last class to take their exam.

The American College of Financial Services requires every examination be proctored by a disinterested third party who is not the moderator, not a relative, an immediate supervisor nor employee of the producer and one that has no financial or personal interest in the outcome of the examination. States having additional or alternate requirements are noted below. Students must follow all posted guidelines regardless of the reason for taking the course.

Please note: Pearson-Vue will act in lieu of the state required affidavit for the following states:

This means that students who take their exam at a Pearson-Vue testing center only for any of the above states will not have to submit a signed proctor affidavit back to the Continuing Education (CE) Department.

The remaining proctor affidavit states MUST have their affidavit signed at Pearson-Vue’s testing center and have it faxed to 610-526-1402 within 24-hours. These states are as follows:

MS, SC, AR, FL, KS, MO, NE, NV, IN, WI, DC

Any student taking their exam outside of a Pearson-Vue testing center MUST have the proctor affidavit signed and returned regardless of the location for ALL affidavit states listed below.

Click on your domicile state below to access the proctor affidavit. Affidavits must be brought to the testing center on the day of the exam. The exam center will not be able to provide them for you. All affidavits must be faxed to The American College of Financial Services’ CE Department (fax: 610-526-1402) no later than the day following the exam. State insurance continuing education will not be granted if your monitor/proctor affidavit is not received in a timely manner. Students who fail to return the appropriate affidavit will have to take the exam again if CE is desired. If your state is not listed, you do not have to fill out a proctor affidavit but you do need to select a proctor in accordance with The American College's guidelines.

The proctor must have no corporate employment or course sponsor relationship to the student. However, employees of the company's personnel or compliance department with no direct financial connection to the student may proctor exams.

The student is required to have exams be administered by a disinterested third party such as a testing center or at a library. Insurance company or agency personnel are not considered to be disinterested third parties.

Path:Click here for a list of approved New York proctors. The proctor must fax their approval form, (received from The New York Department of Insurance), along with your name, course and section information to: The American College of Financial Services Attention: CE at 610-526-1402. You may also submit the name of a disinterested third party for approval. To do so, you will need to access New York Pre-Approval Forms Link for forms and directions.

The general rule for all transfers of credit is that you may receive a maximum of three (3) electives, internal and external, toward the FSCP® designation. Thus, the student must take two more electives, the Ethics course, and FP 99 (FSCP® Certification Course) to receive the FSCP®.

LUTCF/FSS

If you hold the LUTCF awarded by The American College of Financial Services:

You will need to take FP 99 (FSCP® Certification Course) to obtain the FSCP®. You may display both designations.

If you hold the LUTCF awarded by The College for Financial Planning:

You are eligible to receive a transfer of credit worth a number of credits to be determined after a review of the LUTCF curriculum from The College for Financial Planning.

If you hold the LUTCF awarded by The American College of Financial Services and the FSS designation:

The student may apply to receive the FSCP® designation but in doing so must agree to relinquish the FSS designation. The student may display the LUTCF and the FSCP® designations only.

If you hold the FSS designation awarded by The American College of Financial Services:

You will need to complete one additional elective course that you have not previously taken, as you have already satisfied the FSCP® certification requirement.

Other Available Transfer of Credits

If you have successfully passed one RICP®, ChSNC™, CLU®, ChFC®, or CFP® course, you are eligible for credit toward one elective course in the FSCP® program.

If you have been awarded the FSCP® designation, you are eligible for transfer of credit towards one elective course in the CLU® designation.

Transfer of credit for certain courses will be granted to individuals who hold the FIC or FICF designation, provided the specific course(s) identified for transfer were based on course revisions produced in April 2007 or later.

For the FIC Basic Introduction to Life Insurance, course credit will be granted for The American College’s FA 202 (Techniques for Meeting Client Needs), provided that the student has completed the FIC designation. [Holders of the FIC/FICF designations who enrolled with Kaplan beginning April 2007 or later may receive up to 60 percent or 6 credits of total credits. Confirmation letter from Kaplan is required.] Credit for The American College’s FA 271 (Foundations of Estate Planning) and/or FA 251 (Essentials of Business Insurance) courses will be granted if the student has passed the FICF Graduate I Estate Planning and/or FICF Graduate II Business Insurance Concepts courses, respectively.

Get started with FSCP®

Throughout the decades, The American College of Financial Services has served as the premier educational institution dedicated to the development of financial services professionals. The College has worked tirelessly to educate our nation’s advisors, to help them raise the level of their service, and to ensure that society can rely on a profession built on trust. Graduates and designees of The American College of Financial Services have studied, have passed rigorous exams, and have proven that they not only have the technical knowledge to serve their clients, but have sworn to practice ethically and in the best interest of the good people they serve. Holders of the FSCP® designation are required to complete ongoing continuing education and participate in the Professional Recertification Program.

We look to you, our graduates, designees, students, and future leaders, to earn the trust of your clients, to represent the legacy of this institution, to proudly, “Carry the Shield.”